Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Titan Fighting Championships 17 (3/26/2011)

We're back at Memorial Hall in Kansas City for this event featuring a bunch of crappy names and like, no good fighters. Basically. Mike Schiavello and Frank Trigg are announcing this event headlined by Bobby Lashley and John Ott. Ott is a middleweight who is blown up to heavyweight.

1) Jon Hollis vs. Anthony Gutierrez: Nondescript local lightweights. As amateurs, Gutierrez beat Hollis. As pros, will it be different? Noteworthy fact: Hollis has his own name tramp stamped on him.

FIGHT: Gutierrez Submission Rnd 1. Hollis is a decent wrestler, but not much else. With Gutierrez having a height advantage, Hollis decides to take down Gutierrez repeatedly and take his chances. Hollis leaves his head or arm in over and over and over again and submission attempts just keep coming from Gutierrez. With 40 seconds left in the round, a triangle choke forces a tapout for Hollis. (0)

Here is a hype piece for Phil Baroni after the opener so we can all hear about how Phil Baroni, late in his physical prime, is about to make a comeback after fighting like shit for years.

2) Nathan Schut vs. James Krause: Schut is 13-4 against non-names but is a lifetime wrestler. Krause lost in Bellator and WEC and bounced from both. He is a lot taller and younger.

FIGHT: Krause TKO Rnd 1. Schut doesn't prepare at all for strikes and was thinking takedown when he gets hit with a headkick he didn't see at all. Fight is done and its 30 seconds in. (0)

3) Alonzo Martinez vs. Aaron Derrow: Derrow was getting the hell beat out of him when he beat Rich Clementi by miracle sub. Martinez is some guy who I saw in the last TFC show. Honestly, this is an irrelevant bout, but you know what? It is well matched.

FIGHT: Martinez Majority Decision. The first time I tried watching this, I was drunk. I felt that was a bad way to go. So I watched again later sober. Man, this is a good fight! (2)

Derrow: Derrow is the kind of un-athletic BJJ guy that works from the bottom all the time. You know that guy. He's tall, gangly,throws terrible punches as he rushes forward to get the clinch, but has to pull guard or get taken down to do anything. To win regularly as such a guy, you have to be insane tough and incredible from the bottom. Derrow is tough. He is just OK from the bottom. He's just not gonna be that kind of guy in the Noguiera/Maia/Diaz vein. His punches coming forward are really bad, but you expect to see a guy like this push shots and wander forward looking to clinch.

If you take the tact that he's never going to really concentrate on striking or MMA as a career, that's fine. Pushing punches and coming forward at least gives you the chance of backing someone straight up and landing as they keep going backwards. He actually gets Martinez with a few shots this way at the end of the first. But counter shots and the like - that is where champions are made. He hurts Martinez so badly in the 3rd that he gets like two solid minutes of beatdown out of it with a single right hand counter as Martinez comes in wild. If that had happened in the first round, he'd have won. Instead. he gets a 10-8 on one card to get a draw and 10-9 on the other two, earning him a defeat.

Martinez: Undersized compared to Darrow, he's just OK at most everything, has decent submission defense, better takedowns than his opponent, and his striking is more consistent, albeit still wild by any reasonable discussion. He's a good gatekeeper type for guys looking to get to the D level in the sport.

4) William DeSouza vs. Eric Marriott: 150 lb catchweight? I think? I dunno. Who cares.

FIGHT: Marriott Unanimous Decision. Very difficult fight to break down. DeSouza is a guy who has some degree of grappling skill but wasn't close to having enough strength or technique to take down Marriott. This was a major issue, because skillwise he was getting beat up standing and on the bottom, while there were a couple attempts at leg locks, there weren't any real scares to keep Marriott honest on top. In effect, you saw in the very first round that DeSouza could not win. Marriott is hardly unbeatable - he's strong, yes. But he's flat footed and keeps his hands very low. He doesn't really have an explosive shot either.

In my weekly discussions with Lee Casebolt, he mentioned to me that he hadn't seen a fighter like DeSouza in a major MMA show such as this one since 1997. As he put it, who comes into a cage today with nothing other than brown belt level BJJ? (0)

5) Nick Nolte vs. Phil Baroni: Finally, we reach the main card. Before the fight, viewers are treated to a sort of Baroni promo shot at AKA in which Baroni shows off his incredible digs that he shares with Justin Wilcox upstairs, above the gym. Apparently he is now cohabitating in a 300 square foot room with Nolte, sleeping in a twin bed, and eating meals Wilcox cooks up on a camping stove while still spending money on fake tans and shit. Wasn't this guy married again? I know he got foreclosed on, but really now.

FIGHT: Baroni Unanimous Decision. Nolte isn't the story here. He fights a good gameplan that keeps him in the fight and takes Baroni deep where Phil is always, always terrible. Humorously, he throws a pair of spinning heel kicks in the third, one of which lands to the mush. Baroni's gameplan is that of top control wrestler, and wrestling was never really his strongest point. He was a sprawl and brawl wrestler at his best. As a top control wrestler, he doesn't have the cardio nor the GNP to dent guys. An argument can be made for Nolte to win this fight, since he pushed Baroni into the cage and landed some dirty boxing for the majority of the first before being taken down and controlled, and in round 3 he landed a ton of bad ass strikes that hurt Baroni and nearly finished a gassed Phil before gassing totally himself and being taken down and held down for 2 minutes. Baroni arguably then has lost every fight since his 2008 Icon Sport bout in which he KOed Ron Verdadero. (2)

6) Aaron Rosa vs. Abe Wagner: Rosa has grown horizontally into a middle of the road heavyweight. Wagner has been one for awhile now too. Fairly competitive bout, right?

FIGHT: Rosa Submission Rnd 2. Not really that competitive. Wagner's chin up, hands down striking style and poor wrestling means he loses here. He gets dropped in the second coming forwards and ends up having his back taken as a result and choked out. In the first he is beaten in the exchanges, pushed around by the chubby Rosa, and taken down off a single and held there for a good chunk of time. Abe's a decent athlete but he's not a great wrestler, and Rosa isn't one either but he's at least competent. Rosa establishes himself with this win as a guy like Devin Cole who operates well outside the top 25/30/maybe even 40 and plays gatekeeper with more talented athletes. (2)

7) Bobby Lashley vs. John Ott: Main event for the night, and preceded with a feature on Lashley that showed him in ice baths and hot saunas to recover for his merciless training sessions. Ott was a middleweight and not a very good one either, making him a seemingly easy foil for Lashley.

FIGHT: Lashley Unanimous Decision. This is the kind of fight that someone wins and still gets completely exposed on. It was one thing for Lashley to have such a tough time years ago with Jason Guida. He was young and inexperienced then and also a part time fighter still pro wrestling. Today, 2 years later, he should be past it. He's not. What Lashley had then he still has. He has a lot of muscles and an OK blast double that puts Ott down on the mat in every round. What he also has is a poor gas tank, no submission skills whatsoever, and a poor IQ as far as positional control is concerned. What was Lashley doing rocking forward with his feet off the mat inside of Ott's guard? Pushing down using gravity? Ott has guts and taunted a completely gassed out Bobby Lashley in the early going of round 3 while doing nothing to win. He came forward with wild strikes and got taken down, losing the round. Whatever. Ott says afterwards that he wanted to win and Lashley asks for a step up. Rosa/Lashley is a decent fight I suppose but has
the potential of unbridled suckage. (2)



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Derrow/Martinez

KO OF THE NIGHT: Schut/Krause

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Gutierrez/Hollis

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. The fights with names were absolutely dreadful and yet entertaining in being so bad. The rest was forgettable with one entertaining but meaningless contest. Actually, the DeSouza/Marriott fight could also be slotted as "so bad it was good".

D&R Rating: 22% (8/35)

Saturday, March 26, 2011

M-1 Challenge 23 (3/26/2011)

M-1 got 4 shows on Showtime thanks to Fedor being, uhh, Fedor, and this is the first of those. Ranallo and Milietch are announcing this show for Showtime and we've got a bunch of fights between dudes I have barely ever seen.

1) Alexander Saranavskiy vs. Beau Baker: 155 lb bout. Baker has wins over Tom Speer and Mario Stapel, so he is not totally bad. Saranavskiy is 12-0 against nondescript competition.

FIGHT: Saranavskiy Submission Rnd 2. Story of the fight is such - Baker wants takedowns, doesn't really set up the shot, just sorta tries to walk through shots. Saranavskiy defends the attempts and lands a million arm shots. Unfortunately, Saranavskiy should have ended this in the first with all the punches and knees landed, but like I said; they had nothing behind them. Pure arm shots. More of this happens in the second, and after one particularly bad attempted takedown attempt, Baker tries to back out and turns around to run away and Saranavskiy jumps on his back and takes him to the mat. There's a body triangle and a RNC soon after. (1)

2) Jason Norwood vs. Mojo Horne: 185 lb bout. Norwood is a top level wrestler, and Horne isn't. Oh, and he's like 7 years younger too.

FIGHT: Norwood Unanimous Decision. What I can tell you about Horne is that which I could have told you before - he's not a great wrestler. He's not even a very good submission guy from the bottom. He's basically a striker and he gets taken down over and over and over again. Norwood, meanwhile, is a great wrestler. He's not a good striker, and so he doesn't even try to trade. He goes for singles or doubles or singles or doubles. And that's it. Horne has some offense early in the second round as he tries to fight off Norwood's attempts at a takedown and lands a couple punches and knees, but Norwood just keeps pushing and pushing. Norwood on top doesn't do a lot either. He's sorta a human blanket who prefers to hold his man down from the half guard rather than land blows in the full guard or rear up in mount to get leverage. (1)

3) Vinny Magalhaes vs. Jake Doerr: 205. Vinny loves to pull guard and that's been his career downfall from TUF to the present. Jake hasn't fought in two years and is a "judo specialist" moving up from middleweight who also happens to be shorter and older.

FIGHT: Magalhaes TKO Rnd 1. Magalhaes drops Doerr immediately with a left hand and we are headed to KOTC Special Land. The fight ends with Magalhaes on top with a body triangle on and having the back of Doerr landing blow after blow to the head. (1)

4) Tyson Jeffries vs. Magomed Sultanakhmedov: Middleweight title up for grabs.

FIGHT: Sultanakhmedov TKO Rnd 2. In the first round, Jeffries is trying to do things right and keep his foot on the outside of Magomed's lead foot and throw the right hand. But he throws slowly, he doesn't jab, and most importantly, he can't check kicks at all. Sultanakhmedov lands low kicks over and over and over and then throws body kicks over and over and over and man, it looks bad on Jeffries. There's a takedown for Sultanakhmedov too and he ends up in side control, and yet he prefers to stand out of a dominant position to go back to striking.

As the second goes on, Jeffries actually gets a trip takedown after absorbing more low kicks. Even though he has mount, he never postures up, never goes for anything, and gets bucked when he finally seems to consider it. Back to the standup and Sultanakhmedov throws more kicks up and down, and this fight starts to get ugly. The last 30 seconds was me yelling at the TV demanding a referee stoppage as punches kept landing, kicks kept landing, and knees kept landing while Jeffries wasn't intelligently defending himself or coming back with anything that could change the outcome of the fight. Horrible stoppage. So, so late. Sultanakhmedov wins a vacant title. Problem for Sultanakhmedov as he fights better opposition: He's too small to be a successful middleweight at 5'9'' and with his body type. (1)

5) Artiom Damkovsky vs. Jose Figueroa: Lightweight title bout. Damkovsky is defending his title. Figueroa has lost to every good fighter he's faced, but he is from ATT.

FIGHT: Figueroa TKO Rnd 2. Beatdown again. Damkovsky is basically a striker and not a very good one. Figueroa lands the superior shots standing and gets trip takedowns any time he's close enough to have the clinch. Damkovsky's nose breaks after going face first into that mat during the 1st round. Figueroa from that point just smashes the hell out of Damkovsky, keeps getting takedowns, and eventually pounds out Damkovsky from the mount. Am I going to pretend that Figueroa is a real prospect now? No. (0)



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Figueroa/Damkovsky

KO OF THE NIGHT: Sultanakhmedov/Jeffries

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Saranavskiy/Baker

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Uhhh, so nothing here was really good and some dudes got destroyed and that was it. Skill level is like any other lousy MMA show except that you have Russians.

D&R Rating: 20% (4/20)

Friday, March 25, 2011

WEC 4: Rumble Under The Sun (8/31/2002)

EAST COAST VS. WEST COAST. Ryan Bennett and Jeff Cole (???) are the announcers for this event, coming straight from the Mohegan Sun Hotel/Casino in Uncasville, CT. Main event - Jeremy Horn vs. Aaron Brink. Pretty amazing! Production is...amazingly bad. Like, you hear lots of dudes at the desk talking to the truck and a lot of dead air. And this is the first 10 minutes! Place is just dead - barely anyone there. Takes like almost 15 minutes for anything appreciable to happen. Lots of pyro and Kid Rock: What a different era.

Tons of legit fighters appear at the booth - Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell, Jens Pulver, Pat Militech, among others.

1) Bao Quach vs. Jeff Curran: Wow, now that is an opener! Both guys were at featherweight here and have risen and dropped since. Curran fought in WEC at 135, and Quach was at 140 with EXC and may be a bantamweight now. Both regularly fought at LW.

FIGHT: Curran Decision. Its not stated that its a unanimous or split decision, so, uhh, "decision". Good competitive fight. By the time the bout is over, 45 minutes has passed from the start of the show to that point.

Quach: Quach is really flat footed here and quite the boxing robot. His grappling though is very strong. He repeatedly gets Curran down with his shot from the outside, but does very little with the position. Curran's active guard prevents him from doing any real damage, and Curran lands better and more stuff while standing. He also gets dominated a bit in the clinch should Curran be able to defend takedowns or initiate it. I think its fair to say that Quach is smaller than Curran also.

Curran: Big Frog is a decent fighter and looks somewhat put together here. He's a master of nothing, but skilled at most everything to some degree, which in 2002 was very rare at any weight class. He gets a thunderous slam on Quach in the second that's pretty impressive and also goes for several submission and sweeps him in a move that probably earns him the victory all the way back in the middle of round 1. (3)

2) Mike Swick vs. James Gabert: Middleweight contest featuring a future welterweight contender and some guy.

FIGHT: Swick Unanimous Decision. You see one of Swick's long time flaws here - reaching with punches. Gabert doesn't go down for anything. Seriously, Swick beats him upside the head forever and he doesn't go down once. He does cut Gabert on the skull with a high kick in the second but that's about the worst it gets. Gabert, for his credit, may be the much shorter man, but he comes forward constantly, does get inside some of the punches, and lands his own right hands on occasion. He also forces Swick against the cage, though when they clinch, often Swick is able to turn him and start throwing knees. Decent performance early in Swick's career. (2)

3) Jason Jones vs. Randall "Randy" Rowe: This Jason Jones isn't black and dutch; rather, he's bald and fights with Rico Chipparelli. Rowe is from the "Dog Pound" and hails from Middletown, CT, an old mill town that has very little going for it except a nice Tibetan restaurant. Oh, and that college that Hillary Clinton went to.

FIGHT: Rowe DQ. Rowe actually gets a takedown on a much larger, much better (on paper) wrestler and stays there the whole first round. Jones at the end of the first has a triangle choke on and he damn near finishes the fight when the bell rings. The ref breaks them and Rowe is laying down looking basically out. Jones stands over him and waits for him to sit up well after the round is over, then throws a punch. Why? No idea. Just stupid shit. Jones never won a professional MMA bout according to Sherdog, losing 7 times in the seminal Utah promotion Ultimate Combat Experience.

4) Eric Mainiai vs. John Rallo: Mainiai's pro debut against some guy.

FIGHT: Rallo TKO Rnd 1. Fun fight for how long it lasted. Rallo rocks Mainiai, who has a terrible stance for striking, then slams him to the mat with a huge bodyslam. He loses top position going for an armbar but gets the fight back to standing after rolling out when Mainiai goes to north/south and shows the world he has no idea really what he's doing. Standing, more right hands come in from Rallo and a couple knees, and Mainiai turns and runs and the ref stops it. He then complains because, hey, he was gonna mount some real offense and defense from that position! (0)

5) Christian Wellisch vs. Jay White: Man, two journeymen of today locking horns when they were young bucks of yesterday.

FIGHT: Wellisch TKO Rnd 3. This is the sort of fight Dana White loves - cheap, mildly skilled guys throwing leather on top of leather for 3 rounds, landing punches squarely and rocking each other. Both guys are grapplers who robobox and that's fine, particularly in 2002. Wellisch is the better wrestler and White is the better guy in terms of getting submissions on the bottom, so we see Wellisch get the majority of the takedowns and spend the majority of the time on the mat in top control dodging submission attempts and landing shots. Standing though is where most of the fighting takes place, and there they have hands down and wing bombs for the better part of 3 rounds.

Two key events take place - in the first round White drops Wellisch with a punch, and Wellisch curls into fetal and gets hit in the back of the head, as its the only thing he offers as a target. It initally looks like this will be a TKO in the first for White, but after a couple minutes of discussion, its decided to restart the bout and penalize White for the rabbit punch. Absolutely absurd. The second key moment is the final takedown in the third round. Wellisch seems to hang back in the round reserving what energy he has left for a double from way outside, and he gets White down. He stacks White up when there's an attempt at a heel hook, and Wellisch ends up in mount raining bombs and White verbally quits due to strikes. White is carried out on a stretcher. (1)

In between fights, we are joined by CHUCK LIDDELL, who says he is trying to stay busy.

6) Zack Light vs. Tony Fryklund: Light is with Team Punishment and moving up to 185 against the long time MFS product.

FIGHT: Fryklund Submission Rnd 1. Another epic ref fuckup - Light gets repeated takedowns on Fryklund and at one point looks for the heel hook. Then after having taken top control inside the guard, Light ends up in a kimura from the bottom and Fryklund cranks the arm. Then, for reasons we can only guess at, the ref stops the bout. He claims he heard a verbal tap, but the fighter immediately disagrees and its a whole mess with the crowd chanting "You Suck" to the ref. This is like the 4th botched fight in 6 on this card. (2)

FRANK SHAMROCK does an interview in the ring, states that he was hoping to fight Ricardo Almedia and broke his leg. States he will be fighting again soon or never again. Not sure. States he will fight in Mohegan Sun in January/February of 2002.

7) Kurt Pellegrino vs. Mac Danzig: Oh, the good old days! When high level prospects fought other high level prospects at a very early stage of their careers!

FIGHT: The second round was good MMA - guys going for submissions, changing positions, striking, everything. The first and the third rounds; Well, it represented an imposition of Pellegrino's will, essentially. You see him work for takedowns early in both, get them, and get to half guard and do not much. The ref occasionally stands it up, but its lather, rinse, repeat. The second changes this as Pellegrino rushes in with strikes and Danzig counters with his own successful double and he operates out of the full guard of Kurt for awhile. All the chains of attempted submissions and strikes come out of that. Easy decision for Batman Pellegrino, as he shows his strengths and not much more. Both guys are clearly very green. (3)

8) Richard Crunkilton vs. Luciano Oliveira: Crunkilton is seen these days trying out for TUF like, every season. Oliveira no one knows about.

FIGHT: Crunkilton Submission Rnd 1. Crunkilton gets stuck in the clinch early by Oliveira, and instead gets tossed down, goes for a triangle choke out of the mount, and then rolls over and forces the submission. Takes like 10 minutes to do the post fight interview for the new WEC lightweight champion as the mic barely works. Crunkilton looks like he's 19 here. (1)

9) Jeremy Horn vs. Aaron Brink: Brink has gone on to fame as a porn star and drug addict. Jeremy Horn has gone between three weight classes (here as a heavyweight) and fought about 1,000,000 times.

FIGHT: Horn Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special - Horn with the single, immediately takes the back, RNC. Like 1 minute in length. OK, internet says 54 seconds. Horn gets a title belt and says nice things. (2)



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Quach/Curran

KO OF THE NIGHT: Wellisch/White

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Crunkilton/Oliveira

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5.5 out of 10. There's some clunkers on the show but some good prospect vs. prospect fights that now look pretty interesting to the average Joe. Like the WEF and the WFA, these were times when high profile prospects and aging stars could find themselves on cards of this caliber. Today, the only elite fighters on similar shows weigh 125 lbs, regardless of their sex.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/21 Pt. 2

UFC REVIEW CONTINUED:

-Jim Miller made Shalorus look as ordinary as I expected. He's better striking, he's faster, more technical, much better at submissions, etc. When Shalorus shot in the second, it led to him getting his back immediately taken and rode for two minutes. He couldn't even recognize the foot lock Miller openly gave him by crossing his feet. Miller started seeing Shalorus ducking his head and began in the third round by ending combinations with uppercuts. He wiffs a few times then catches him, hurting Shalorus and leading to the ending knee and punching spree. Fights like this honestly don't do anything for Miller but build confidence, and that's really not the worst thing in the world. He needs a fight with Clay Guida before making the step up to a title contest, but he's being brought along nicely IMO. Just needs that experience of a wrestleboxer with straight, fast punches. Miller never led the exchanges and never needed to either. Shalorus was that predictable and slow.

-Forgot to reference Assunciao getting laid out by Koch. This is another example of guys dropping down to 145 when its viable and destroying the mainstays of the division. Koch timed the hook beautifully and was generally doing a very good job setting the traps and counters beforehand. In that talent wasteland, who knows what he can do?

-Brendan Schaub didn't make a fan out of me beating the shell of Cro-Cop. Yes, the takedowns looked good. Almost like tackles. But Cro-Cop's takedown D has been tested and failed on numerous occasions in the last couple years. Plus - the top of the division are guys with All American awards as wrestlers. Some of the guys beneath them are in the same boat. Schaub is athletic and changes levels well, but his striking is slow to develop. So much one punch at a time stuff that a better guy is going to take advantage of fast. A rematch with Roy Nelson would be interesting, I suppose. Meanwhile, Cro-Cop is finished and has been for a long time. You'd be insane to have denied it even two years ago.

-Eddie Wineland, a guy who by all accounts is a lousy wrestler, forced Faber to work very hard for takedowns in round 1. That is the big takeaway from the fight with Faber and Wineland. Faber is still short for a bantamweight, he still holds his hands too low, and he's still very fast and tough to time. He had a tough time really bothering Wineland with his slapping punches until later in round 3, but I think it was clear that Faber was landing the better stuff in round 1 and won all three stanzas. But the takedowns - you know, there was this beauty in round 2 where Faber gives a feint and then sorta floats his way straight into the wheelhouse of Wineland, scoops up the lead leg, and then trips the back one. It was marvelous. But against Cruz, I have a feeling it doesn't work now. Cruz moves and movers need to have the ring cut off and you need to shoot for center mass punching them. Faber doesn't do that. He relies entirely on his athleticism. Maybe I'm going about this all wrong and Cruz really isn't any faster than Wineland, but I don't believe that to be true and so I don't see Faber having an easy time putting Cruz on his back or beating him.

-Dan Miller isn't a very good middleweight. What else is new? Marqhardt is bigger, throws harder, gets better position, and can fight his way back up from takedowns like nobody's business. Miller just throws crappy punches and tries to get takedowns off Marqhardt's more spectacular leaping kicks and punches. Speaking of Marqhardt leaping: What the fuck was that technique he was using? He keeps his distance then jumps in and then throws punches? Uhhh, dude. You are not Roy Jones. You are not fast enough to move in and out linearly like that and not get timed by much better fighters. Or even just OK fighters, which is how you lost to gatekeepers like Okami and Sonnen.

-Gleison Tibau vs. Kurt Pellegrino can best be described as "a fucking mess". Both men are firmly entrenched in the position of "journeymen" and in turn, this should be a sort of crossroads fight where one is demoted out of the UFC and the other keeps their place. Instead, what we get is a tepid, nigh unwatchable affair with neither man trying to win the 3rd and final round, and only one round comprehensively won by either man (Pellegrino wins the second off the strength of his striking, a solid right hand on Tibau, and a takedown). Tibau probably wins the 3rd round off the strength of his own takedown with 45 seconds left along with his more orthodox but robotic and slow boxing. Pellegrino pushes what little action occurs in the first round but neither guy lands anything. Its a split decision and I would have been fine with a draw.

-Njoukani and Barboza put on the FOTN as the folks running the show thought, and I guess I agree. It was a decent, skilled standup battle that while it wasn't a fever pitched exchange of winging punches was pretty fun to watch. Barboza really believes strongly in the kicks. That's fine. Just one issue; MMA is ruled by wrestlers. Wrestlers live to catch guys throwing kicks. If Anthony Njoukani can take you down, you will be planted on your back for an entire fight against Clay Guida. Barboza's wild spinning kicks are also just begging for double leg takedowns to counter them. And to be entirely honest, I can see why people would feel like Njoukani was robbed here. It was a close fight in which Njoukani outworked Barboza in both rounds 2 and 3 but lost the last 45 seconds in such decisive manner that it probably altered the judges' perception of the entire 5 minute period. Its nice to outland your opponent, but if they can wobble you once in a round where you do little more than jab then, judges will remember that. If they take you down too? You better get busy.

-The less said about Catone/Phillipou, the better. Constantinos still can't stop the shot and still can't do anything from the bottom. If he wasn't on his back, he was against the fence and unable to do anything. Catone can wrestle and even if Philipou can strike well, it doesn't matter if he keeps being taken down and mauled. Might as well cut him after this.

I didn't see the other two fights, so yeah. Well, OK. I saw a little of Benevidez/Loveland. Man, Benevidez had a helluva time getting him down, didn't he? That's the problem with being too small for your division sometimes. Already you're seeing scrub 145lb fighters move down and make noise or at least be competitive with the top of the class.

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

Titan Fighting Championship: I could easily run my record up predicting two of the fights, but that's not fun. Instead, the co-main event is Abe Wagner, TUF alum, against ShoXC alumni Aaron Rosa. Aaron Rosa fought in a stinker against Devin Cole that he didn't deserve to win, and lost to some light heavyweights that aren't really at the next level or anything. On the other hand, Abe Wagner is a tough guy to explain. He KOed a former UFC champion, sure. He was also KOed in 8 seconds by Travis Browne and went to a split decision with Sherman Pendergarst. Don't even ask about TUF. In short, while Devin Cole is a strong wrestler with some striking ability and also the willingness to have whatever it is that assault in the fourth degree tied up with sexual harrassment means, he is markedly different from Abe Wagner, who has no wrestling background but instead played football at Michigan Tech.

Rosa may look soft, but he's skilled in ways Wagner isn't, and he doesn't typically wade into wide shots. He'll beat Wagner down and possibly KO him in the early stages.

Bellator 38: Again, only one fight I'm willing to predict - Raphael Davis and DJ Linderman is a fight between a foreign born product with some wins over legit opposition where, as best I've seen, he was dominant. On the other side, you have Linderman, who has heart, isn't as good a grappler, and as the "bigger man" was effectively just fat. Davis, meanwhile was plenty soft as well. But again; this is about who is more skilled, right? Davis is more skilled. He does more things well. Linderman might hang on for a decision but it seems like I get the winner right and the pick of how wrong. Since my inclination is a decision win for Davis, I'll say Davis wins by second round submission.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 24:

Phil Davis/Antonio Rogerio Noguiera is one of those fights you can only do when you really don't care who wins and you feel like it doesn't matter. Everyone is focused on Davis' wrestling, and Noguiera, like his twin, has problems with dominant wrestlers. He's also not as good as his brother from the bottom, though he certainly is skilled. Davis hasn't faced an equally skilled submission wrestler or striker to Noguiera, and he may be less willing to seek the takedown knowing that he could fall into Noguiera's traps on the mat. Standing, Noguiera won a bronze at the Pan Ams. I know more about it than anyone else because I watched the entire tournament. No matter how its framed, yes, it is impressive. So anyways, a pick: I think Noguiera wins, beating the young prospect probably by decision. There you go with that.

The undercard is interesting to me for a few fights - Dan Hardy and Anthony Johnson are fringe welterweight contenders, but Hardy does nothing well and isn't the kind of athletic and physical specimen that Johnson is. Nor is he as big. Hardy can hit plenty hard and Johnson's chin might be there to get hit, but I would be surprised if he lands real leather. Johnson is a big favorite for a reason, and I think he stops Hardy.

There's a lot of mediocre TUF guys on the undercard I can't be bothered to type about, but there's some other stuff I can get up for. Jon Madsen is a high level amateur wrestler and still undefeated as a pro. Mike Russow is also a high level amateur wrestler - not undefeated as a pro. On the other hand, Russow has face by far the better level of competition. Madsen will be a legitimate prospect in the division if he beats Russow...I'd think he's even better than one compared to Schaub. But talking about beating Russow and beating Russow are different things. In the end, experience matters and Russow has it along with talent. He beats Madsen and maybe even stops him with a keylock.

Also, finally: Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung: It was Krazy Horse/Syraipai for a new generation the first time. Rarely are wild brawls like that in the rematch. If you ask me who looked the worse for wear, or hell, asked anyone with eyes, they'd say the Korean Zombie doesn't look the same. I agree. Garcia by deserved decision.

Tuff-N-Uff Fights: Future Stars of MMA 3 (1/7/2011)

John Morgan and Dave Farra are announcing this event from the Orleans' Mardi Gras Ballroom. All bouts are amateur fights. 2 minute rounds all around and judging by the referee's shirt, sanctioning comes through the ISKA.

1) Casey Picard vs. Cody Hamm: Uhhhh. Some people. They aren't even of drinking age, these two. 160lb bout.

FIGHT: Picard TKO Rnd 1. KOTC special, basically. Hamm complains about the stoppage, but whatever. Picard is picking off Hamm's wild shots and then slams him down out of a bodylock, immediately taking side control. He mounts Hamm and punches him until the ref stops it. (0)

2) Joshua Morgan vs. Tyler Jeppsen: Again: More guys I don't know. Morgan is 29. 185lbs.

FIGHT: Jeppsen TKO Rnd 1. Wild grappling from both early on and Morgan cuts himself from what looks to me to be either A) contact his face makes with the canvas less than 30 seconds in or B) an accidental headbutt when the two clinch. Nothing is learned about either aside from that Morgan's stance for striking reminds me of Dan Severn in 1997. (0)

3) Raul Sandoval vs. Jesse Romero: Romero is from Couture's gym.

FIGHT: Romero Unanimous Decision. Sandoval is the better fighter standing and trading, but that's not all MMA is, right? Romero takes down Sandoval over and over again, attains dominant positions, and lands OK GnP, particularly in round 1 (where he mounts Romero). In rounds 2 and 3 he spends almost the entire round on top. (0)

4) Jessamyn Duke vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith: Evans-Smith is the "local" favorite having sold a few tickets to friends and being from California. Duke is from KY. Why did she come all the way to Vegas to fight for no money? Hmmmm.....

FIGHT: Evans-Smith Unanimous Decision. Duke is a kickboxer sorta. I say sorta because she can kick and that's about the only evidence of skill. Zero takedown defense. I mean, she gets taken down off an armdrag. Duke is "active" from the guard but so loose, she comes nowhere near actually locking anything up. Later in the fight, Evans-Smith is landing punches repeatedly and doesn't even have to do anything but walk forward to get to the range she wants with Duke. Evans-Smith is a top control grappler, but compare her to like Jessica Eye (who is only recently a pro) and I'm not horribly impressed yet. Still, she is young. (0)

5) Lee Henry Lilly vs. Joey Angelo: These guys each have 5-6 ammy fights - welterweights.

FIGHT: Lilly Unanimous Decision. Angelo and Lilly threw wild stuff at each other that didn't connect, but Lilly had takedowns in every round. When the rounds are 2 minutes, being on top for 1 minute pretty much guarantees you won. Angelo has good size but I don't think much of his technique or athleticism. Lilly seems to be a wrestleboxer type but that's not a bad thing. No idea what his credentials are. (0)

6) David Tompkins vs. Troy Remer: 10th Planet vs. Xtreme Couture in this one.

FIGHT: Remer Unanimous Decision. Competitive fight. Tompkins is much taller and should be working from long range on Remer. Unfortunately, he keeps on kicking against the wrestler, and when he does that, Remer closes the distance and gets to the clinch. The fight is fought in the clinch or the mat probably 75% of the time, with Remer getting the takedown in every round. Based on his control of Tompkins by pushing him around the ring or taking him down, Remer wins the first and second, but then loses the third when Tompkins immedately sweeps him and lands a number of blows in the closing seconds. (0)

7) Jon Gorton vs. Jonathon Rodeffer: Rodeffer is a Team Tompkins disciple. LW bout.

FIGHT: Gorton Unanimous Decision. First round is an exhibition of wild striking, but the second and third are all about takedowns from Gorton. Rodeffer is a dirty fighter - he grabs almost every rope at the same time to prevent a takedown, and also claims to be hit in the groin when he's taken down with a double. (0)

8) Cesar Campos vs. Josh Grevas: LA Boxing vs. Xtreme Couture. Campos has an appreciable height advantage. Grevas has been off from fighting for 3 years.

FIGHT: Campos Unanimous Decision. Grevas goes for takedowns and gets them on occasion, but has trouble dealing with the submissions thrown back at him by Campos. Standing, its not even close. Grevas throws wide punches from the outside and gets tagged coming in. Grevas kinda stinks the fight out with his style, unfortunately. (0)

9) Ronda Rousey vs. Taylor Stratford: Women's bout. Both are undefeated. Rousey is a Olympian judoka.

FIGHT: Rousey Submission Rnd 1. So, here we have the most impressive performance of the show. Rousey and Stratford end up close enough for the clinch early and Rousey gets an outside trip and then starts going for submission after submission and submission. She gets a straight armbar and its all over. (1)

10) Giovani Zavala vs. Gabriel Garzon: Heavyweights - in shape ones! Zavala is 31, however.

FIGHT: Zavala TKO Rnd 1. Garzon and Zavala swing and swing and then they clinch. Zavala gets pushed to the corner and after a lack of action, they work to separate themselves. Garzon does it all wrong, leaving straight out and with his hands down and head up. He gets clocked behind the ear with a punch and goes down hard.



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Rousey/Stratford

KO OF THE NIGHT: Garzon/Zavala

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Rousey/Stratford

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2.5 out of 10. Man, aside from Rousey's fight, nothing to get excited about here. The only potential pro prospects I really saw from this show based on where they are now are Casey Picard, Lee Henry Lilly (as a lightweight), and Jon Gorton. None of those I feel too strongly about. They could be the random 6-5 guys fighting on any generic club card in this country just as well as they could develop into UFC level gatekeepers and FOTN chasers.

D&R Rating: 2% (1/60)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

IFL: ROAD TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 2007 (9/20/2007

This is a little strange because, hey - its not really a review of a fight card as much as it is the one IFL commercial DVD. It opens up with a bunch of commercials for stuff like the USO, Muscle Milk, Headblade, and a bunch of other junk. There's only 7 fights on the DVD, but they are pretty nifty ones, I gotta admit. This show generally emanates from the Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL, but there's some bonus fights from god knows where. Kenny Rice and Bas are your announcing crew. This is Pitbulls vs. the Silverbacks (Renzo vs. Miletich for coaches).

For those who've forgotten: IFL rules are unified rules with some changes - no elbows at all, 4 minute rounds, and yes; a ring.

1) Delson Heleno vs. Jake Ellenberger: First bout of the night and we've got a couple really high level guys. Ellenberger is actually a substitute for Rory Markham.

FIGHT: Heleno Submission Rnd 2. Not much of a breakdown to offer here - Heleno and Ellenberger are in the clinch from the very start of the fight and Heleno keeps working and working and working for trips and body lock takedowns. Ellenberger's a good wrestler and fights most of them off throughout the first , getting put on his back only briefly a couple times. In the second, the trip comes early in the round and the entire rest of the fight is fought on the mat. Heleno is great on top, getting to mount and flattening Ellenberger out, though doing little damage. Ellenberger bucks him into the full guard, only to get swept himself and armbar'ed late in the round. (3)

2) Bart Palaszewski vs. Devidas Taurosevicius: Two guys who ended up in the WEC and went no further.

FIGHT: Taursevicius Submission Rnd 2. Kinda surprising in retrospect that Taurosevicius went from looking like a future star in this bout dominating Palaszewski and then flamed out so dramatically at both 155 and 145. Bartimus was taken down in the first after tentative striking and absorbed a lot of punches to the face for the majority of the round while Devidas was almost kept on the mat with a rape choke. Second round, we see a body lock and Palaszewski gets the takedown and gets on top. Hey, that's good! Then Taurosevicius gets a high guard, grabs the left leg to give the appearance that he's going for a leg lock, but transitions into an armbar. Palaszewski thinks to try and pull the arm out and it breaks instead. Ugly. (3)

3) Ricco Rodriguez vs. Ben Rothwell: I remember wanting to see this fight so bad and when it hit TV, it was as highlights of round 3 only. Ricco, of course, is a former UFC champion. Rothwell is now in the UFC and had been on a huge run at this point.

FIGHT: Rothwell Unanimous Decision. Again, not a big breakdown to do here because what was done was so simple in some ways. Ben Rothwell is the better man standing by an appreciable amount. Rodriguez, meanwhile, does little offensively aside from some low kicks and going for two guillotines, neither of which was very deep. Every time Rothwell gets put in the guillotine, he pulls his head out and starts punching, earning him (IMO) every round. This really isn't the easiest fight to watch though. Lots of pushing and hugging. (4)

4) Ryan McGivern vs. Fabio Leopoldo: Middleweight contest. Neither guy is really special - McGivern actually won the IFL Middleweight title when they moved to individual belts later on in the dying days of the promotion. Leopoldo should lost his prior two fights coming into this having been given a gift against a young Gerald Harris.

FIGHT: McGivern TKO Rnd 2. Beatdown city. Leopoldo does nothing effective in this fight, isn't able to get takedowns, isn't competitive on the feet. McGivern takes advantage of Leopoldo's wide guard and the fact that he drops his head every time McGivern comes forward with strikes and throws uppercuts over and over and over again. He drops Leopoldo three times with uppercuts and the last one puts Leopoldo down and out for awhile. Heckuva TKO. McGivern only fought twice after the IFL went under and seems to have retired following a loss in Bellator in 2010. (2)

5) Mike Ciesnolevicz vs. Andre Gusmao: Both guys got to the UFC and did very little when they made it there. This fight will also decide who is the IFL Team Champion for 2007. Its a rematch for a fight that Gusmao won in 2007.

FIGHT: Gusmao TKO Rnd 1. Ciesnolevicz comes forward not really setting up the shot and eats a high kick. He stumbles and goes down and Gusmao follows up with punches before the fight gets back to the feet ever so briefly and a knee finishes the bout. Really, the high kick was a grazing shot - if it was flush Ciesnolevicz may never have woken up. (2)

Show is over, Pitbulls are the champs.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

BONUS#1: Daniel Gracie vs. Wes Sims: Jens Pulver is joining the crew for this bout at the Trump Taj Mahal. Its actually a rematch from the Gracie Fighting Championships. Ricco is in the corner for Wes Sims. Also, no Bas and instead we have Steven Quadros! Weird. Fight is from 6/3/2006.

FIGHT: Gracie Submission Rnd 1. Wes Sims gets taken down off an inside trip very early in the bout and is in the half guard, and at that point, the fight is basically over. Gracie moves to mount, Sims gives the back up and stands, and Gracie holds on the whole time. Sims tries to dump him over the top rope but the Herb Dean kinda keeps the rope up holding it and Sims ends up passing out from the choke and collapsing with Sims on his back. Gracie's people rush the ring and are like landing on top of an unconscious Sims. Daniel Gracie goes on to be KOed by Allan Goes and disappears for 5 years before returning at the one and only Israel Fighting Championships Show ever held to date. But let's not be unfair here - he is returning soon to fight with Bellator. (1)

BONUS #2: Shad Lierley vs. Chris Horodecki: Man, another version of "what the hell happened?" Horodecki just wasn't willing to make the sacrifices to cut to 145 where he was better physically suited and now he's outside of the big promotions looking in after being a can't miss prospect once.

FIGHT: Horodecki Unanimous Decision. This is the fight that is popularly considered the greatest in the history of the International Fight League. (4)

Horodecki: Once a young phenom, Horodecki is largely seen as being washed up these days. He just had a lot of big beatings when he lost and this war also didn't do any good for his neurological health. Horodecki had the rep of being a big bopper in TKO and had some nice wins early in his IFL career, but since 2007, Horodecki's career has more than doubled in experience, he's dropped 3 fights, and he hasn't gotten a single win by TKO. Maybe Lierley was the proof that his punching power was totally overrated, because lawd almighty, he hit him with everything about a hundred times each. Horodecki also shows that he's not particularly good at stopping takedowns and isn't any sort of overpowering grappler from his back.

Lierley: Its not often that you can say about a guy that it was a terrible thing to be in a notable fight of the year contender 3 fights into his career. But that is what happened here to Shad - he gave Horodecki everything he could handle in a losing effort and absorbed a lot of stuff in doing so. He's a great tough pug, but the final analysis of this fight and his career isn't positive. You get hit a lot like this, it can ruin you. On top of that, being so competitive with a guy so highly regarded as Horodecki meant that he skipped a few levels of development and ended up in with fighters who were well above his skill level. He dropped to 145 in 2008 for his next fight with Wagnney Fabiano and literally made that guy's hype train before the WEC. Then he goes to Bellator in 2009 and goes 1-1 there beating journeyman Nate Murdock and then losing to a similar sort of shooting star phenom in Wilson Reis.

As a fighter though: Lierley is a wrestleboxer with a wide boxing guard and poor movement. He has a tremendous chin and his takedowns are OK, but nothing stands out about his skill level. In top control against Horodecki he is not that active. He also doesn't have the same level of cardio and is pretty well past it in the 3rd round. But he can see the punches coming from Horodecki and stays in the fight as a result. Wild stuff when he throws but it occasionally sets up the shot.



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT/DVD: Lierley/Horodecki

KO OF THE NIGHT/DVD: McGivern/Leopoldo

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT/DVD: Gracie/Sims

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW/DVD: 7 out of 10. This is a pretty entertaining (in general) set of bouts with a cult classic included, a couple wild submissions, some beatdown KOs, and one sorta lousy but important fight.

D&R Rating: 54% (19/35) Highest rating attained thus far. If you score it solely as the 5 fights from the night in question alone, its a 56% instead.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Shogun Fights 3 (11/13/2010)

This is the third show from promotion Shogun Fights, with Show #2 getting the BShow treatment previously. Once again, its a one hour program taped at 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore. Why does every promotion have nu-metal intros? These guys do too. Announcers have the same sort of pairing here as the UFC: A color guy that announces everything and a PBP guy thad does nothing.

1) Tony Galeano vs. Dan Root: Dudes! Galeano is from Vegas. Middleweight. That's as much as I know.

FIGHT: Root Submission Rnd 1. Root is almost KOed immediately after slowing going for a single, but Galeano follows him to the mat, goes for a guillotine, and basically gets rolled onto his back and dooms himself. Root sits in the half guard forever, punches a bunch, passes and gets a head and arm choke to end it. I have no idea what Root can really do right now even after seeing that. (0)

2) Tim Wade vs. Ryan Macklin: Featherweights - Wade has good size for the division at 5'10''.

FIGHT: Macklin Submission Rnd 1. KOTC special with a bulldog choke after 1:30 or so. Trip takedown looks like Macklin just overpowered him more than beat him on technique. (0)

3) Russ Shiflett vs. Gemiyale Atkins: Shifflett is a club boxer turned MMA fighter. Atkins looks fat for the weight and small.

FIGHT: Atkins Unanimous Decision. This is hard to watch. Shifflett is terrified of the takedown, and also he's old. On top of that, Shifflett is clearly not a great boxer; hands are slow, punches are wide. As a result, he ends up absorbing the bigger shots in every round. When Atkins wants takedowns, he gets them, even if he can't hold the guy down. He also isn't particularly good on top - no real attempts to pass or go for subs or even throw solid shots. (0)

4) Frank Lester vs. Kevin Killian: Frank Lester was a guy on TUF 9 who kinda sucked but went down in history as a tough dude.

FIGHT: Lester TKO Rnd 1. Lester lands punches at will, drops Killian with a knee, and the fight is over. Killian does absolutely nothing right in a short and complete domination by Lester. (1)

5) Bobby Favors vs. Ryan McGowan: McGowan is big. 300lbs big. Love his muscles. Favors is "350" and looks closer to 400lbs. This fight even gets a big intro piece, and it features a ham beast. This sport. This fucking sport.

FIGHT: McGowan TKO Rnd 1. Favors is demolished with knees and punches. This fight is fucking terrible. I'm not sure what the deal with Ryan McGowan is and why they're so high on him, but whatever. He beat the shit out of a fat man. (0)




FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lester/Killian

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lester/Killian

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Root/Galeano

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Some carnage makes this not the worst thing ever, but its darn close to it. There's time spent talking about how this show is "just below the UFC". Yeah. Right.

D&R Rating: 4% (1/25)

Monday, March 21, 2011

SHOOTO DISC 11: Shooto Gig 1st 4/10/98

This event comes from Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and features a number of new faces - Saburo Kawakatsu, Isao Tanimura, Mitsuo Matsumoto, Kazumichi Takada, and Yuki Sasaki are all mentioned in a prefight promo piece. Of these, only really one would go on to anything bordering on stardom.

1) Isao Tanimura vs. Saburo Kawakatsu: Tanimura is already 30 at this point making his debut. Kawakatsu is some guy also debuting.

FIGHT: Kawakatsu Unanimous Decision. This is deserved - Kawakatsu got repeated takedowns and was on top in dominant positions most of the fight. He also came closest to finishing with going from side cotnrol with a straight armbar as well, though Tanimura fought his way out. (0)

2) Mitsuo Matsumoto vs. Masakazu Kuramochi: Matsumoto is a NEW FACE.

FIGHT: Kuramochi Unanimous Decision. This shown is shown as highlights - Matsumoto is taken down over and over, nearly taps due to a RNC on the chin, eats a high kick, and gets generally dominated in what is shown. (0)

3) Satoshi Fujisaki vs. Kazumichi Takada: Who? No idea on weight. Fujisaki with Shootboxing trunks.

FIGHT: Takada Unanimous Decision. Highlights only again. Lots of flying submission attempts in this bout. Takada does more of them, so he wins I guess? He can't strike at all. Fujisaki gets him in the thai plumb and while he lands a knee, he should have gone to town. Instead, we get a flying armbar attempt. (0)

4) Yuki Sasaki vs. Yasushi Warita: Warita is terrible, Sasaki still gets relevant bouts.

FIGHT: Sasaki Submission Rnd 1. Easy fight - he takes down Warita instantly, goes from half guard to taking the far leg and turning a heel hook. Warita rolls and taps. That there is a debut! (1)

5) Yoshiyuki Takayama vs. Katsuhisa Akasaki: 62KG! Little dudes!

FIGHT: Takayama Submission Rnd 1. Rear naked finishes this contest - Akasaki is way smaller and when he drops to try and get down Takayama following a clinch started by a Takayama body kick, he's pancaked and gets his back taken. The choke slowly works its way in and he's flattened out. Standing Takayama almost seemed to be playing with him given the way he was juking and feinting. (0)

6) Takuya Kuwabara vs. Takenori Ito: Kuwabara is Mr. Takedowns. Ito, from what little I know, is chiefly a top control grappler and not an active one, either.

FIGHT: Kuwabara Majority Decision. Atrocious decision. (0)

Kuwabara: Kuwabara shoots IMMEDIATELY. I'm shocked. And he keeps on shooting, too. But he's shooting from too far outside. And he isn't doing anything to set up the shot and get closer. Put all that together with the disadvantage he has in size and he is getting stuffed over and over again. And his left leg is getting red from being kicked so much. Its a bad first. The second is a big improvement though - he pushes hard with his first shot and gets down Ito and handles him on the mat the majority of the round. Then he starts taking the stance of a counter puncher and lands some hard right hands when Ito takes the lead foot. This continues into the third round after Kuwabara is forced to trade with Ito - since Ito throws one thing at a time, he tries to time kicks off the back foot with his right hand. Lead foot kicks he has trouble with - eats them at worst, blocks them partially with his forearms at best. He gets very deep penetration looking for a double off a back leg body kick from Ito and takes him down with 15 seconds remaining. Apparently that was enough for a majority decision? Horrible.

Ito: Ito looks to be as much as 6 inches taller than Kuwabara. If only I had taken notes on that! And he just looks much physically larger. Kinda like watching what would have happened if Florian fought Gamburyan. Ito has a bad second round where he loses his mojo and gets taken down and controlled and even hit a few times standing, but gets back to work in the third - he is apparently convinced he can throw leg kicks and not get taken down, and starts throwing them again. And he actually does stop the takedown this time and forces Kuwabara down face first, cutting him. The fight is restarted standing and Ito again has a huge gap between him and his short opponent. Its so big, Ito starts throwing headkicks because Kuwabara can't close the gap. Ito does eventually get a takedown late in the round off a kick, but the decision is obvious. Ito does have a big flaw standing - never throws combinations. Not even two strikes in a row. Should have won this easily under Unifed Rules scoring. In Shooto? Who the fuck knows.

After the show is over, we get a video promo about Rumina Sato showing the loss to Joel Gerson and what I think is Korakuen Hall along with the message "THE GREATEST COMMON MEASURE RULES IN GRAPPLING EQUALS TO COMBAT WRESTLING" for what seems to be a grappling competition for Shooto, Judo, Sambo, etc. Then we see a package of highlights from said grappling competition held on 3/15 of that year. Among the finals matches shown in highlights unless otherwise noted:

58KG: Shoji Masada vs. Masaru Kokita - Kokita wins
63KG: Hiroyuki Abe vs. Kazuhiro Inoue - Abe wins
69KG: Kazuya Abe vs. Takeshi Yamazaki - Note: Caol Uno was participating but didn't get to the semis. Abe wins a decision.
76KG: Yasushi Miyake vs. Rumina Sato - This is shown in full, actually. Sato loses a decision on points.
85KG: Takeuchi Izuru vs. Sunao Terada: Izuru wins by heelhook or something
85+KG: Sadaaki Sugiura vs. Keizo Sakakibara: Sugiura wins decision on points. And its by a shit load (11-0!). Dude is kinda fat.
Women: Yoko Gokita vs. Michiko Takeda: Takeda wins with a choke. She's like, a lot bigger.

After the highlights are shown, so are medal ceremonies and THAT'S ALL FOLKS.



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Ito/Kuwabara

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Sasaki/Warita

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4.5 out of 10. I can't lie. I kinda enjoyed Ito/Kuwabara and Yuki Sasaki's debut. There were only 4 full fights shown, and if you ignore the grappling tourney, its like an hour long episode of NAAFS from back in the day.

D&R Rating: 3% (1/30)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/21 Pt. 1

I'll split this up for opinions I'll have as they're freshest:

-No idea what really happened in United Glory but I was 1-1 in picks.

-James Irvin showed up about 9 lbs over and gets beaten in seconds. Shocker.

-I had a nice conversation with Lee Casebolt on Friday about the UFC show. I told him then that Jon Jones not winning the title would rock the foundation of my worldview. I considered it that impossible that he would lose. I was right. Shogun had no gameplan, was gassed one round into the fight, and was overwhelmed by Jones physically from the get go. Forget the talk about knee injuries and what not. He was never a skilled enough fighter to challenge Jones ever. What was he gonna do, take Jones down? Rush him with punches and risk being in the clinch?

One thing Lee and I discussed that I now agree with - the best matchups are not Rampage but Machida and Evans. Rampage is, as Lee reminded me, too easily manhandled in the clinch. Maybe not easy to take down, but Matt Lindland and Dan Henderson were able to keep him against the fence when needed. Jones comes in wild, and when you are that wild, someone with great speed and movement can counter you and make you look foolish. Machida is very possibly such an individual. I would pay money for that fight. Evans will be tougher because of the gulf in size, but he does have an appreciable advantage in hand speed and technique. Horrendous game plan from Marshall. If he retires, well, OK. You weren't getting any further anyhow.

On Eliot Marshall/Luis Cane: That was my one wrong pick for the UFC card. Marshall looked terrified in there and Cane mugged him. He did nothing to set up takedowns and stayed square and against the fence almost the entire period of the fight until being KOed in the first. Luis Cane isn't back yet. Won't be official for awhile if ever.

Watched all of Bellator:

-Lee told me Eric Larkin was a beast. Well, he's a beast that can't set up the shot in MMA, got sprawled on, ate a knee that busted up his face, and he got choked out with a guillotine trying to press for the takedown.

-Daniel Straus looked good at 145 beating Malegarie. Its his best win in terms of performance and guy he beat. Didn't look good getting rode in the first round, but he outlasted the Argentine fighter, showed some grappling prowess, and clearly was much better on the feet (which was expected). With Larkin out, I think his one of his biggest worries in the tournament went with him.

-Wilson Reis looks like a star running over Zac George, dropping him, taking a dominant position, and then submitting him. But then again, how many times has Reis looked like a star, then disappointed? I've seen the story too many times. He needs to be at 135.

-Patricio Freire KOed Karakhanyan in the third with a big hook and followup GNP. He was a lot bigger physically and like his brother, you see him setting up punches and takedowns by timing them based on the opponent's movement and predictability. At 15-1, he is indisputably the best featherweight in Bellator outside of Joe Warren, based on the people beaten and skills shown. But that inability to wrestle with Warren is not something that will go away overnight.

Predictions for this weekend: 8-2

Predictions for 2011: 15-3

KOTC: Stand Off (2/22/2008) & Combat Collection Vol. 2 Final Review

Alright, FINAL disc of the Combat Collection Vol. 2, which seems at this moment to be the last KOTC box set ever produced for sale and distribution. This show is coming at you from Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant. Inman and Cordiero are announcing this show.

1) Brian Karmolinski vs. Joel Paquette: Lightweight amateurs.

FIGHT: Paquette Submission Rnd 1. Karmolinski gets deep and has the hands locked around both legs of Karmolinski and still can't get him down. He keeps pushing for the double and then the single on the outside leg and Paquette comes around to his back and chokes him out. (0)

At this point, in enters Pappa Schnake. Insert FUUUUUUUUUU jpeg here.

2) Jeremy Joles vs. Mike Sixel: More amateur lightweights. This is actually part of a one night 4 man tournament. Sixel is not new to my eyes having fought on a show I've reviewed before of KOTC that happened one month prior in Wisconsin. He also trains part time at Team Quest.

FIGHT: Sixel Unanimous Decision. Wow, this was horrible. They clinch and clinch and clinch and Joles gets pushed to the cage and he gets hit with about 10 punches during the fight that bloody Joles' nose. Crowd mostly boos after the fight when Schnake demands they make noise. Schnake also makes sure to mention the sponsors of the fighter before they're announced still. I hate hate hate that. (0)

3) Chris Henderson vs. Justin Jaynes: The other lightweight tournament bout. Jaynes I've seen before fighting as a welterweight.

FIGHT: Henderson Submission Rnd 2. Scrappy bout between a couple guys who aren't that talented or skilled right now. Henderson is a decent physical specimen and does a good job preventing Jaynes from staying in top position for very long ever in the fight. He's also got some semblance of a bottom game as is clear by him having submitted Jaynes with a triangle choke when Jaynes tried to enter the full guard in the second. (0)

4) Tyrone Holmes vs. Rodney Sleepers: Schnake takes like 30 minutes to introduce Holmes and sings part of Oh Canada doing it. Is it wrong to wish Big Papa to kill himself? That is perhaps a bit strong. Sleepers has when I've seen him, been totally boring. Middleweight division.

FIGHT: Sleepers Submission Rnd 2. Another Rodney Sleepers signature performance - flails coming in for the clinch, gets the takedown a couple times, generally works to getting the back, has enough time in round 2 to pull the choke off. He is cut when flailing coming forward in round one with a right hand. Both takedowns also didn't come off doubles or singles, but rather suplexes. Not big ones, just tight belly to bellys. (0)

5) Jordan Sullivan vs. Ben Lagman: More middleweights. This is yet another amateur tournament.

FIGHT: Lagman Submission Rnd 1. Lagman overpowers Sullivan in the ring, walking through his punches, getting the takedown, and taking the back. RNC finishes the glorified KOTC special. (0)

6) Tim Farr vs. Jorge Sarat: Couple more local boys I know nothing about.

FIGHT: Sarat Submission Rnd 1. Man, this goes bad for Farr immediately. He walks forward with his chin up punching and eats a right hand that fells him. He mounts him, punches him, and gets a bulldog choke/RNC from the side to finish it. (0)

7) Nick Turco vs. Josh Barnes: Turco once took a beating at the hands of Stipe Miocic that you can read all about here. Josh Barnes epitomizes the modern heavyweight journeyman. This bout is for the KOTC Amateur Heavyweight Title. Tyson Johnson also comes out and starts announcing again and I am so happy.

FIGHT: Barnes Unanimous Decision. Man, terrible fight. Turco tries a couple takedowns and gets stuffed huge. Otherwise the fight is all standup and Barnes lands the occasional arm punch or jab and that keeps Turco from doing much of anything en route to a decision win. (1)

8) Chad Herrick vs. Bryan Harper: Harper has come out from Temecula, CA. Herrick is the local boy.

FIGHT: Harper TKO Rnd 3. Sorta slow fight in the second that at least had some back and forth in the first. Honestly, I wasn't paying 100% attention to this because I don't care about the fighters, an the fight wasn't that important or good. Harper gets some decent takedowns and is in control outside of being rocked by what looked like a potential rabbit punch in the first. He lands a knee while Herrick windmills punches and Harper like flies backwards and lands on his back out cold. Harper has lost three straight, some of which were overseas. Herrick is just irrelevant at 7-6 on a regional level. (0)

9) Jerome Beal vs. Brad Burrick: Chad Burrick's brother was reviewed fighting on this show from 2010. Beal has two prior pro fights - one in 2000, one in 2005.

FIGHT: Burrick TKO Rnd 1. Beal is knocked out with a jab while throwing a front kick. Fight up to that was a mix of sloppy kicks and clinch work that did nothing to endear either man. (0)

10) Mike Sixel vs. Chris Henderson: FINALS! Who will win the lightweight tourney crown? Does anyone care?

FIGHT: Henderson TKO Rnd 2. Man, beatdown city. Sixel goes for the takedown and gets it in round one. Henderson though hangs on and forces a standup. Followup attempts don't go so well, Sixel gasses, and Sixel rushes Henderson at the start of round for the clinch and instead ends up thrown down, mounted, and pounded out with strikes. Henderson never fought again, Sixel made no real noise. (0)

11) Ben Lagman vs. Jorge Sarat: Finals of the middleweight tourney.

FIGHT: Sarat Unanimous Decision. Moderately interesting standup fight with Sarat throwing a lot of wild kicks - side kicks, spinning heel kicks, and the like. Lagman is much more orthodox but he gets freaked out a little and ends up standing at a distance and gets outworked. Its not like he doesn't have a plan - he's bigger and gets a big takedown in the first round. But then nothing happens with it. Lagman gets to be on Bully Beatdown. (0)

12) Joe Voisin vs. Matt Jaggers: KOTC is filling their vacant 145lb champion spot in this bout. Voisin is supposedly the big favorite here and is wearing wrestling shoes. Fight is for 5 3 minute rounds.

FIGHT: Jaggers Unanimous Decision. Jaggers is better standing, with takedowns, and on the mat. Voisin doesn't win a round outside of the 5th (thanks to a hard shot and takedown he gets), and otherwise Jaggers is stumbling Voisin almost every round by straight right hands. Voisin is simply very limited in terms of what he can do. He's a strong wrestler, but against someone stronger and better, how can he implement his gameplan? His boxing isn't good enough to terminate someone's timing or rhythm either. Jaggers rolls here and gets a call from Sengoku not that long afterwards where he does nothing. Most notable about this fight - Jaggers forces Voisin to tap out due to strikes before the bell sounds for round 3, but after the fight is stopped, it is miraculously determined that Voisin, who is the local fighter in the contest, had tapped out after the bell, in spite of it being very clear that it occurred before hand when watching. The fight is then restarted for round 4. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Lagman/Sarat

KO OF THE NIGHT: Harper/Herrick

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Henderson/Jaynes

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 2 out of 10. Crap everywhere. Fighters that don't matter. Fights that aren't good. The main event features flat out corruption. Bad, bad, bad.

D&R Rating: 2% (1/60)

Combat Collection Vol. 2:

Stand Off: 2 out of 10 (2%)
Arch Rivals: 4.5 out of 10 (17.5%)
Collision Course: 5 out of 10 (11%)
Sinister: 3 out of 10 (5%)
Caged Chaos: 2 out of 10 (7%)

AVG: 3.3 (8.5%)

To compare:

Underground Soldiers: 2.55 (5.1%)
Underground Enforcers: 2.78 (8.2%)
Underground Worldwide: 2.7
Underground Warriors: 3.55
Combat Collection: 5.9

Back almost precisely 2 years ago, I stated that I was done watching KOTC shows on DVD. It was, at that point, a waste of time to me. The shows were bad, the fights awful, and they weren't getting better. Look at that comparison of the first Combat Collection to the second. There's a huge dropoff of the rating per fight. In fact, the average card on the Combat Collection Vol 1 is better than the best show the second set offers for pure entertainment value. For actual importance, its not even comparable. The sets are certainly consistent, but they are consistently bad. Its a shame, because there are good KOTC events. I've seen 'em! My favorite B-show of 2010 was a KOTC event. But these? Not so good.

Friday, March 18, 2011

MECA World Vale Tudo IX (8/1/2003)

Why not another timely review prior to a UFC card? This event, held at the Gymnasium Pedrao in Teresopolis, which is a municipality within Rio. Its a commercially available DVD in the US that Ed Soares helped find distro for. The program is edited from the original airing under the "Premiere Combate" label that you see the Jungle Fight shows and FuryFC events being televised under. Rules and rounds seem to be based on PRIDE.

1) Peterson Mello vs. Marcelo Santos: I know nothing about either guy.

FIGHT: Mello Submission Rnd 1. We get a clinch almost immediately and Mello pushes around Santos. After a lot of hugging, he throws Santos to the ground with, uhhh, some sort of brute force leg trip looking thing. After moving to mount, he hits him for awhile, Santos flips over and over and over and eventually this ends with a head and arm choke. (0)

2) Alessio Sakara vs. Rafael Tatu: One of these guys is notable. The other - not so much.

FIGHT: Sakara TKO Rnd 2. Not the most exciting fight.

Tatu: Tatu, for a guy who's career record officially stands at 0-4, puts up a helluva fight. He actually gets on top for the majority of the first round, he lands some decent shots in exchanges, and he defends the takedown at the start of the first and lands soccer kicks as a counter. He's not just a speed bump, he's competitive. But Sakara is physically stronger and better conditioned, and that's a big thing.

Sakara: Sakara is known to most MMA fans as being a striker. In reality, Sakara's fighting style is often most effective as a ground and pound artist. He's not a terrific wrestler or anything, just strong. But strong counts. With his striking background, Sakara generally doesn't get guys thinking double or single and he more easily gets the fight to the mat where he can pound out his opposition. In essence, he is the poor man's Vitor Belfort. In this fight, his technique is often not enough to get the takedown (though he spends significant time on top in rounds 1 and 2), but he does get the fight down and busts open Tatu in the second round with short shots. The cut is bad enough to force a stoppage. Sakara points at a tattoo of Jesus after the fight. (2)

3) Roan Carniero vs. Adriano Verdelli: Carniero is a reasonably good fighter who will be in the Golden Glory tournament this weekend.

FIGHT: Carniero Submission Rnd 1. Anaconda choke! Before Noguiera! Easy fight for Carniero who gets a takedown early and then, as Verdelli scrambles and tries to reverse the position, locks in the anaconda choke. (2)

4) Ivan Jorge vs. Rafael "Capioera" Freitas: People of varying quality.

FIGHT: Jorge Split Decision. Ridiculously terrible fight that went the full 20 minute distance. Jorge has a takedown and a lot of stuffed takedown attempts along with lots of pushing of Freitas in the clinch to the corner. In return, Freitas throws bad strikes and the occasional headkick that he gets taken down over or at least completely loses position as a result of. Very little happens over the course of those sad, sad 20 minutes. If you want to say anything about them, neither can punch or kick, though Freitas is perhaps incrementally better, and Jorge's grappling is a small sliver better than Freitas'. Neither looks like a world beater. (1)

5) Daniel Acacio vs. Delson Heleno: Heleno looked decent in the IFL, Acacio went to PRIDE.

FIGHT: Acacio TKO Rnd 2. Now looking at it, this would be a good rematch. (3)

Acacio: Outgrappled comprehensively in the first, he has a better gas tank than the muscled up Heleno and outlasts him in the second round. He actually lands shots as Heleno comes forward for the clinch and prevents him from doing anything really offensive aside from a couple sweeps or takedowns in the second. This was not a great Acacio performance.

Heleno: When the second round ends, Heleno is slow to get out of Acacio's guard and is shaking his head and seemingly verbally quitting between rounds. Up till then, Heleno was the better takedown artist, spent far more time on top, and had generally avoided monster shots landing on the feet. When Acacio tried to get to a scramble position, Heleno would end up on top again even if Acacio was briefly successful.

6) Marcelo "Grilo" Alfaya vs. Luiz Claudio Das Dores: Don't know either.

FIGHT: Grilo TKO Rnd 2. Nothing is worse watching bad MMA than watching a bad fight between fighters that don't matter. Alfaya has losses to the likes of Luis Cane and Alexey Oleinik amd Dos Dores hasn't really even gotten to that level of competition. Alfaya shoots off of wide overhand rights over and over again and gets the takedown anyhow, then holds down Dos Dores virtually the entire fight. After the second ref standup of the second round, they clinch and Alfaya drops a tired Das Dores with punches and the fight is stopped. Glacial action. Terrible to watch. (0)

7) Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Branden Lee Hinkle: A meaningful sort of fight! Gonzaga is headed back into MMA and Lee Hinkle is still bouncing around out there and has a oddly smashable sister. Gonzaga is a lot smaller in this fight. In fact, he's smaller than Hinkle, who later went down to 205 in his UFC career.

FIGHT: Gonzaga Submission Rnd 1. This one got the crowd going. Wild dirty boxing to kick it off with both men throwing and landing hard shots, but Gonzaga's took much more effect. Hinkle has his nose bloodied and retaliates by shooting and actually getting the back of Gonzaga briefly. Being from Hammer House, he's not entirely sure what to then do, and Gonzaga flips over, gets the guard, and hooks up a triangle to force the tap out. Kinda one sided but at least it was interesting. (3)

8) Assuerio Silva vs. Fabiano Scherner: At the time, this was the heavyweight contest on the card to watch. Now look.

FIGHT: No contest. Typical boring, horrible Assuerio Silva fight involving lots of pushing early on. Scherner goes to butt scoot and takes a couple kicks to the legs. Man, this is looking dreadful. then Scherner is allowed to stand and goes for a shot. Silva and him tumble through the ropes and Scherner basically gets DDTed on the timekeepers table and has to be boarded out and given oxygen. Silva slides back into the ring almost immediately after and raises his arms. Thankfully, no rematch was ever held. Still gets a (3) because hey, it ends in wild, must see fashion.

9) Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: This is such a weird fight. Cyborg, I thought, was also Chute Boxe. Your ref for this contest is PEDRO RIZZO.

FIGHT: Shogun TKO Rnd 1. Some things don't change with time. Cyborg still doesn't have good cardio. Shogun's chin is still shaky. You see those things here in this bout early in Shogun's career - he comes in wild and gets tagged by Cyborg, who lands a counter and we're wild swinging. Shogun goes for takedowns, and he does get them. Cyborg on the bottom then quickly runs out of steam and they're going loose and fast for submissions on both sides. Rua tries for a heel hook, a knee bar, a triangle, a straight armbar out of mount, a head and arm choke - he can't lock in any of these in spite of having the position. Part of it is Cyborg's strength. Just think about how a guy now campaigning at welterweight was powering out of Rua's joint locks and how Jon Jones might do Saturday night at UFC 128. The fight ends with Shogun taking mount and landing punches until there's a stoppage late in the first round. (4)



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Shogun/Cyborg

KO OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Heleno

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Carniero/Verdelli

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. There's some OK stuff, some relevant stuff, some not so relevant stuff, some terribly boring stuff. I almost dread watching Brazilian MMA shows because the talent is often so bent on sitting in half guard and the refs so willing to let it be like that, I start daydreaming about random things.

D&R Rating: 40% (18/45)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

NAAFS Cage Fighting (3/13/2011)

After three weeks of repeat shows, a new show for NAAFS. Kalikas is still with John Strmac. This is from Caged Fury 14 held on 2/26/11. NAAFS has upgraded to a blue vinyl mat surface that they seem to admit they lifted from another promotion who "didn't need it anymore".

1) Cameron Ross vs. Josh Kallai: Interesting note is the sponsorship of each corner to a specific company. Amateur bout.

FIGHT: Kallai Unanimous Decision. Not a terrible showing from Kallai in winning. He gets takedowns over and over and does a solid job getting getting to dominant positions on the mat. Ross goes for some ill advised submission attempts in the bout (why pull guard to go for the guillotine if you can't win on the bottom?) and throws some really wild shots when he walks forward that Kallai counters. (0)

2) Victor Guarriello vs. Cody Garbrandt: Two 19 year old amateurs at 135. Guarriello has a weight of 129 on the scales.

FIGHT: Garbrandt TKO Rnd 1. Guarriello is so much smaller its ridiculous. Garbrandt comes in and stumbles himwith a right uppercut counter. He keeps throwing shots until the ref jumps in as Guarriello starts slumping down against the cage. Very short bout. (0)

3) John Myers vs. Bryon McCroskey: Lightweights. Both are 31 years old. In other words, probably not real prospects.

FIGHT: McCroskey TKO Rnd 1. Myers gives a good effort getting a takedown at one point and wading through some offense by McCroskey, but he gasses out and McCroskey's better conditioning takes over. He hurts Myers with punches on the mat and then follows it up with more standing. While Myers sees the bell, he's so beat up he needs to be carried out of the ring. Looks like he has some sort of leg injury. (0)

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 3.5 out of 10. I can't say it was totally bad because Kallai looked good and is a young buck with a lot of time to grow. But the rest is probably something you can skip.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

THE BIG SHOW REVIEW: Week of 3/14

Recapping:

BELLATOR 35:

-You know why I don't pick fights with guys I haven't seen? Because of shit like McCullough/Friere. Everyone assumes that Bellator slotted him with someone who couldn't beat him and Friere turns out to be a much larger man who knocks his block off and controls him on the mat. McCullough had a good second round and was looking like he might win a decision in the third when he threw a leg kick and got timed with the right hand over it. He was done as soon as it landed. Friere is such a strong kid. Reminds me of Thiago Alves. I don't think he's that crisp, but he's definitely strong and his stuff hauls ass when he goes to land. Not really a plodder. Punches are, OK, not good defensively but all things considered, I wouldn't be worried about it.

Not to knock leg kicks either, but there's a time for them and a time not to bother. Friere didn't check them, sure. But then again, he was looking to walk through them and land on the back end of an ill advised low kick from McCullough. Razor Rob never really got to dictate the distance of the fight, which I suppose isn't surprising since he's not a slick striker and was smaller.

-Imada breaks some poor guy's arm (Shockey) in a 90 second fight. Shockey was better served standing with Imada, who got to the finals of a Shootboxing tourney last year with his grappling alone, but apparently he didn't get that memo. He tried to pass to side control, and Imada just regained full guard and then rolled up the arm. Shockey's attempt to slam out of it was ill advised. The whole situation was.

-Lloyd Woodard's win over Carey Vanier didn't inspire. He caught a guy moving straight back with his hands down. He nearly did it about 3 times in the first round but Vanier would be able to grab him and hold on for awhile. Even got a takedown. Woodard seems like he can scramble decently and he hits pretty hard, but technically he's nothing exciting. Friere smashes him so bad.

-Michael Chandler was another guy who won and just looked OK. Held gave a couple reasonable submission attempts for his offense but got choked out with a head and arm choke by the wrestler. If Chandler fights Imada next, he gets wrecked. Same with Friere. Woodard? He wins and gets to the finals.

SHARK FIGHTS:

See the review from earlier in the week.

Predictions for 2011: 7-1. Only picked two contests last week and got 'em both.

CORRECT: Villefort/Horwich, LaRosa/Damm

PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS PREDICTIONS

UFC 128:

Shogun vs. Jon Jones: Man, is this a situation of too much too soon for Jones? Shogun's problems come against big guys who grapple. This is true if they are top guys like Forrest Griffin or old guys who may be a couple years from heart failure like Mark Coleman. Jon Jones is a really big guy who grapples. Bad, bad style matchup for Shogun. Now, its true that Shogun may be able to come forward and bring heat to Jones, but when has Shogun consistently brought pressure in an MMA fight since PRIDE's demise? He's a better submission artist than the guys Jones has fought; again true. But Shogun's last big performance rolling on the mat was what again; Kevin Randleman?

End result is this: Jones wins the title by stoppage in round 2. I don't know that Jones can beat Rampage Jackson, who I think is the biggest threat style wise to him in the division. But I'd like to see the fight.

Urijah Faber vs. Eddie Wineland: Eddie is not old by any stretch of the imagination, but he's fought top guys before and lost. He can be outwrestled, and Faber can do that to him. Faber's a better athlete than Wineland and almost too fast to time, so that's probably outside of what is reasonably possible for Wineland to do. This should be another impressive showcase for Faber before a title fight later this year. I expect Faber to win by stoppage in the second.

Jim Miller vs. Kamal Shalorus: Can Miller stop the takedown? Does it matter? Miller is a well rounded fighter with a good BJJ background. Shalorus is a wrestler with bad punches. Kamal's best bet is to swing and hope that Miller forgets the fundamentals and leaves a big enough opening to get hit. You don't bet on that happening. Miller wins a decision.

Nate Marqhardt vs. Dan Miller: Waste of time caused by Akiyama cancelling. Miller can't beat Nate anywhere. Only fear is that Nate the Great turns into a lay and pray machine.

Cro-Cop vs. Brendan Schaub: Smells like a setup fight for Schaub given how lousy Mirko has been for, gosh, 5 years? Schaub by decision in a tepid affair.

Luis Cane vs. Eliot Marshall: Tough fight to pick. Eliot is such a strong wrestler though that I have to imagine that Cane, who hasn't faced anyone similar ever, is going to have fits. Marshall by decision. Could be hotly debated after because of Cane's activity in certain parts of the early going.

Ricardo Almedia vs. Mike Pyle: How sad to see the Big Dog doing this. Pyle is, to be brutally honest, the better fighter at this point in time after Almedia took so many years off. Pyle is inconsistent, but as a wrestler he's still darn good, he's not easy to submit from the bottom, and he's a better striker than Almedia. Patrick Cote outwrestled the Big Dog - why expect Pyle not to? Pyle by stoppage late.

KSW 15:

Mamed Khalidov vs. James Irvin: What a sad fight. Khalidov will knock off Irvin's block. Dude is a mess on drugs and has no other options in life right now but to keep fighting. Almost tragic that it can happen.

United Glory Round 2:

Siyar Bahadurzada vs. John Alessio: Alessio is the best wrestler Bahadurzada has ever faced. I was stunned to discover that, but its totally true. On paper, Alessio runs over Siyar in under 3 minutes with a submission. The thing about this show is that the house promoter manages Siyar, so I can't be sure what sort of trickery may happen here. I stand by Alessio in 3 minutes by submission, but if he doesn't shoot, the fix is in.

Roan Carniero vs. Tommy Depret: Again, one guy here is the promoter's boy (Depret) against a more skilled outsider. Against the similarly sized and not as skilled Sergio Moraes, Depret was manhandled and finished in a round. Carniero may have activity issues, but he's fought top guys regularly and been competitive with them. He's a better grappler and he's a halfway decent striker too. He won't stand with Depret but that won't matter on my card. My card is the issue. I don't score officially. Some guys Golden Glory are paying will be. And they'll score a 3 round fight for Depret to my dismay.


KOTC: Arch Rivals (10/27/2007)

Show #4 from Combat Collection Vol. 2. This is gonna be a short one - they literally throw on two previously aired fights with name fighters onto this show in order to make it more worth your time. What is here is pretty amazing.

Classic fights that start the PPV presentation (Inman and Cal Worsham are announcing):

Jorge Santiago vs. Diego Sanchez: First of the two classic bouts. Never reviewed it, but will skip doing so until I decide to go back to that specific show (KOTC 36, Unfinished Business)

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Sean Gray: Another classic. This was from KOTC 13 Revolution.

1) Tim Bradley vs. Aaron Buck: Guys for a weight class I didn't pay attention to.

FIGHT: Buck Submission Rnd 1. Bradley goes for the takedown and gets it. Thing is, Buck is apparently cool with working off his back and ends up working the hips most of the round until locking the arm and extending an armbar to force the tap. Buck has no subsequent pro fights that I am aware of. (0)

2) Jack Montgomery vs. Adam Torres: Welterweights Don't know either.

FIGHT: Montgomery Submission Rnd 2. Reasonably competitive fight between a couple guys who really aren't that relevant. Both guys had some good throws and takedowns and did decent ground work, but Montgomery ends up with the last takedown of the fight getting a leg sweep off a body lock, passes to mount, and then punches Torres until he gives up his back and the choke. Torres had some decent throws himself and did a solid job up till then nullifying Montgomery's offensive grappling, but it was for naught. Torres retired afterwards. (0)

3) Hunter Worsham vs. Shannone Callos: Cal Worsham's kid against some BJJ fighter. Welterweight contest.

FIGHT: Callos Submission Rnd 1. Wild contest with Worsham rushing Callos with flailing strikes and they trade takedowns. Worsham eventually uses the cage to flip the two of them on the mat and get on top, but leaves his head in there for a triangle that he eventually taps to. Cal is asking for Hunter to slam his way out, which really isn't the best strategy if you aren't named Rampage Jackson or Ron Waterman or something. (0)

4) Brad Imes vs. Bo Cantrell: Its hard to believe that Brad Imes was a finalist on TUF 2, isn't it? I mean, that was before the series had total crap on it. Bo Cantrell infamously lost to Kimbo and Dave Huckaba in record time.

FIGHT: Imes Submission Rnd 1. Imes brings the gogoplata, which he won an inordinate number of times by. Cantrell actually drops Imes in the early going and they scramble afterwards. Cantrell is on top in the full guard once some leg lock attempts come to an end and Imes works for the gogo. The next fight for Cantrell was indeed the Kimbo Slice bout. (2)

5) Robert McDaniel vs. Dan Molina: McDaniel got a couple fights with EXC later. Molina had been in the IFL and collected losses there to Brian Foster and Ryan McGivern.

FIGHT: Molina Submission Rnd 1. Man, didn't expect that. McDaniel lets Molina get him down by getting real low and pulling the heel out while shooting the double, and Molina starts getting active inside the guard to set something up. That something is a heel hook given to him by McDaniels' flailing open guard. McDaniel tries to fight it off for awhile and then ends up getting himself hurt by not tapping in time. (1)

6) Tony Lopez vs. Frank Appah: Appah is making his second pro fight and states that he has a TKD background. Jesus.

FIGHT: Lopez TKO Rnd 1. Not the greatest Lopez performance. Appah is squared up and strong, sure, but after the first minute or so, the fight slows down tremendously and Appah basically is stuck at the end of Tony Lopez's kicks. I'll say this about Lopez - I was thinking he had Guy Mezger power in those kicks, but then one lands clean to the head with the shin and Appah slowly slumps and takes shots and the fight is stopped. The announcers basically try to cover for Appah having been looking for a way out of the fight by saying that he was looking for a way out of the fight, but, hey, Mazzagatti stopped it early! (1)

7) Bao Quach vs. Chris David: Prefight video for David shows him smashing something. What? Why? I don't know. Lightweight bout. I like Bao Quach fights.

FIGHT: Quach Unanimous Decision.

Quach: I often think of Quach as a gatekeeper with serious grappling skills. I suppose that's true here, even though the fight is about Quach keeping it standing and using his advantage in technique. He's such a smaller guy that it makes his ability to repeatedly fight off the takedowns of David very impressive, and to then counter it with crisp punching and low kicks is huge. He never has David in trouble, but he makes his shots count and he wins through sheer technique over athleticism or physicality.

David: Wants the clinch, wants takedowns. Never gets them. He pushes with his punches rather than snaps them, which means that he can't really hurt Quach and he's slow getting the shots off. He can't check a kick to save his life. David's not an entirely bad fighter. Clearly he has qualities that don't come to light because he can't institute his gameplan, but if you want to be elite or something imitating it, you need to be able to beat midlevel fighters who's best success came at 140. He's not really a guy with a blast double - more of a swim to the clinch and then he tries to overpower. (1)

8) Anthony Lapsley vs. Jaime Jara: Lapsley debuted and did not so well in Bellator. Jara also debuted and did a little better in Bellator. Well, at least he made it a more competitive fight.

FIGHT: Lapsley Submission Rnd 2. Kinda. Officially this is a no contest because Lapsley tested positive for THC.

Lapsley: Elite wrestler? No. Not really. He gets Jara down a couple times but he never really powers the guy down or shows some sort of wild technique with his wrestling. What's wild is that he starts the fight with a spinning heel kick that opens a cut on Jara. They trade submissions in the first and in the second, a tired Jara gets taken down and KOTC Specialed with the RNC. Interesting attempt at an inverted triangle looking thing in the first is worth noting.

Jara: Tough guy who didn't show the gas tank I expected. Decent submission attempts though - he nearly had Lapsley in a heel hook and had Lapsley's back too. (2)



FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Jara/Lapsley

KO OF THE NIGHT: Lopez/Appah

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cantrell/Imes

OVERALL FOR THE SHOW: 4.5 out of 10. Substandard show with a couple decent main events (one of which basically doesn't mean anything at all officially) that's bolstered with fights that don't belong.

D&R Rating: 17.5% (7/40)